“I’ll leave you to read it.” Jeremy slapped his dusty slouch hat against his leg and took the canteen. “I’ll wait around thebend and have some hardtack and salted beef for you when you’re ready. No one else but me and Lucy know how Morning Fawn got the information and what she did to save you. I imagine the letter will explain it.”
Devon sank onto a rock and unfolded the paper.
My dearest love, I can’t bear to stand by and let you be executed without doing everything in my power to save you. I’ve agreed to marry Nick Moyer in return for his assistance. We will marry shortly before we set sail for England. If you’re reading this, you escaped, and you’re alive. That’s what matters. It is worth the cost. I will love you forever.
Dear God.There were no other words. A flash of memory. Him tired, hungry, and eager to see his wife, eager to take her in his arms, hurrying through the care of his horse, only to be greeted at the door to his quarters by the doctor with a bloodstained apron. The end of hope. For so very long.
He crumpled the paper in his fist. He wouldn’t let her throw her life away for him. Limbs shaking, he jumped to his feet, already smoothing and folding her declaration of love as he walked.
“Where is she?” He rounded the point. “What else do you know? I don’t care what she agreed to. That man is slime.”
Jeremy glanced up from his meal, fine lines crinkled at the corners of his eyes. “From what Lucy heard, Moyer’s taking Morning Fawn to Galveston. Plans to set sail for England after he marries her. They were in his carriage. They stopped by the slaver’s. He bought Lucy and then allowed Morning Fawn to send her off to Alleyton with the information and the letter. ”
“I’m not going to let him have her.” His jaw clenched. “A promise made under such duress isn’t worth the spit it takes to speak it. She’s not going to throw her life away for me.” Hiswords rang out as solid as a hammer striking an anvil. “I’m going after her.”
Jeremy stood. “I figured you’d say that. But you need to get to Matagorda and then take a boat to Galveston. Quicker and more unexpected. And safer than traveling over land considering the Rebs are probably going to plaster your face on posters all over East Texas. I’ve been giving it some thought. Columbus to Galveston is around fifty more miles than Columbus to Matagorda. And they’re traveling by coach. You’ve got time to get to Matagorda and recruit a few volunteers. I’ll round you up a dinghy and come with you. Moyer might be expecting you.”
“I hope he is, and I hope he’s man enough to settle our differences between the two of us without bringing in help.”
“Don’t count on it.” The creases deepened across Jeremy’s brow.
Devon nodded. “I didn’t ask, but are Lucy and Miss Schramm safe?”
“They’re at the safe house. Our friends plan to help them work their way down to Brownsville after everything settles down. Miss Schramm sent you a letter too. “Jeremy reached in his jacket.
Devon stuffed his hands into his pockets. “I don’t want to read it. My girl is in Galveston. She’ll be somebody else’s over my dead body.”
CHAPTER 36
Morning Fawn’s toes dug into the damp sand. White foam lapped at the hem of her burgundy gown. She’d be happy to shed the garment and never see it again—only, she had nothing else to wear. After they’d dropped off Lucy in Alleyton, Nick had packed a trunk of his belongings, and they’d driven through the night to Eagle Lake, caught the train there, then transferred in Houston to the Galveston train, moving toward the future she didn’t want at coal-powered speed.
Upon their arrival late yesterday afternoon, Nick had ordered a tailor shop to make her two dresses double quick. She could only hope they’d take a month. Surely, something could be thought of by then. He’d purchased underclothing from a general store and ordered a pair of sturdy shoes from a cobbler, all part of filling her sea trunk. Dear God, she could not do this. How could she marry a man she didn’t love, didn’t even like?
She glanced back at Lawrence and Guthrie. Were those first or last names? She still wasn’t sure, but when Nick wasn’tpresent, at least one of them or both followed her everywhere she went.
Various vessels dotted the Gulf. She’d gaped in awe when she’d taken her first walk by the docks last night. Towering schooners, steamers with their angry smoke stacks, and sloops. Nick had told her all of the proper names, but she’d just stared. And that was just the wharf. Never in her life had she seen so many people, and there were hundreds of city blocks filled with more buildings and houses than she ever imagined possible. A world as foreign to her as the surface of the moon.
The wide open space of the beach was the only place she could breathe.
She glanced toward the road. Dressed in a dark suit, Nick strode toward them. Her shoulders tensed. A paper hung from his hand. News of Devon? She lifted her skirts and pattered toward him.Dear Lord, please let it be good. She’d lain awake, tossed between prayer and worry the past two nights, fighting for the faith of which Devon had spoken.
Nick removed his hat. His face gave no clue. He handed her the folded paper.
Her hands shook as she opened the one-page newspaper. Huge black letters blared at her.Prison Break. Yankee Spy Escapes…
She uttered a cry and dropped to her knees.Thank You, Lord. Thank You. She clutched the paper to her chest. Tears trickled down her cheeks. The Lord had heard her prayers. Devon was safe. Or almost safe. Her sacrifice had made a difference. Now he had to stay free. Stay alive.
She quickly scanned the paper. It was dated this afternoon. The escape had been yesterday morning. He and his accomplices hadn’t been captured yet, although several Unionists in Alleyton had been rounded up for questioning and a few had been jailed. But the writer assured the reader that state militiaand Confederate cavalry were hot on the Yankee’s trail. The next edition promised a sketch of the wanted man and, very likely, his recapture.
Nick stuck his hands in his trouser pockets and studied her. “If he has any brains, he’ll get out of Texas.”
Swiping her cheeks, she struggled to stand.
He held out his hand to her. She took it without thinking, the band of his jeweled ring pressing against her fingers.
She pulled her hand away as soon as she gained her feet. A new idea struck her. “They rescued him before he started for San Antonio. They didn’t do it your way.” Hope trembled within.
He snorted. “They used the information you sent them by way of the slave girl I bought to be our messenger. Bought and set free, mind you. A thousand dollars gone. Without that, his Unionist buddies would have had no idea he was about to be moved, and no clue of how to break him out of the jail. So don’t you try to weasel out of your word, Morning Fawn. I upheld my end of the deal.”
